Fire departments explore consolidation

Firefighters from Kingston and Forty Fort respond to a fire at 90-92 Walnut St. in Forty Fort in late 2008. The combined Kingston-Forty Fort model has served as an example of inter-community cooperation.

The concept of fire districts may not be taking root in Pennsylvania, but fire department consolidations and other cooperative ventures are gathering steam.

The goal of the agreements being forged is developing the means to meet the two most serious challenges to providing fire fighting services: Financial stresses and manpower declines on the volunteer side of fire fighting. Many small, under-staffed and redundant fire companies have begun to merge.

"We're getting better on the level of cooperation," said Rob Brady, the state Department of Economic and Community Development's expert on firefighting and emergency medical services (EMS) in the commonwealth.

More and more elected governments and their fire companies, volunteer or paid, are coming together, Brady said, to ask, "What model can we use to make our communities safer?"

That question echoes questions posed in a landmark 2004 bipartisan legislative committee's report to the state Senate on improving the delivery of emergency services in Pennsylvania. That report said every community (every elected official and firefighter) should ask: "What do I need to protect my community?" "How much will it cost?" "What are my funding sources?" "How do I deliver these services?"

Brady said other states are far ahead of Pennsylvania in the creation of true fire districts, which are multi-community bodies that can assess fees for fire and emergency services. A local example might be the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority, which collects fees for wastewater treatment.

Regional police departments have emerged around the state and they rely on member towns for funding. Brady said municipalities could do the same with fire and ambulance services, basing their fees on various factors such as population, square miles or call volume.

There are various cooperation models that can be followed, Brady said, and those being chosen most often in Pennsylvania are consolidation of volunteer companies or partnering of paid and volunteer services.

The 2004 report said Pennsylvania was in a "crisis" situation, based on the related problems of finances and manpower. The cost of operating a volunteer or paid fire or fire/EMS service is steep, and the number of volunteers has been in a steep decline.

Brady said people can define "crisis" in many ways.

"Do we have a problem? We do have a manpower problem," he said. "There has been a huge downturn in the number of volunteers."

The cost of equipment, ranging from bunker coats to complete fire engines, has increased dramatically, Brady said. Towns with paid departments are finding it difficult to retain forces and volunteer companies have learned that they can't make it with dinners and raffles.

Money and manpower are the challenges to Pennsylvania communities, he said.

It is the fundraising stress and the time involved in fundraising that causes volunteers to quit, Brady said. They don't mind training time or fighting fires.

"Fundraising is a big issue," he said. Internal fire company controversies also can be an issue, he said.

Wilkes-Barre is one of many Pennsylvania communities in the throes of firefighting/EMS angst related to cost of the service and tax levels. Eleven city firefighters were furloughed this month, cutting the force to 53. The city hopes to rehire the firefighters.

Many smaller communities report volunteer numbers in the single digits. One remedy is automatic mutual aid, which has neighboring towns respond immediately to structure fires. Sugar Notch, located within Hanover Township, now has an automatic mutual aid agreement with Hanover, which has paid personnel manning fire stations in addition to volunteers.

Hanover Township has merged its own five fire stations into what is labeled a "fire district," and officials there hope it expands one day to include neighboring towns, including Sugar Notch.

Forty Fort wrestled with declining numbers and then moved to consolidate with the Municipality of Kingston, a home-rule community. The fire/EMS model has been lauded as an example of inter-community cooperation. Butler Township and Conyngham Borough created the fully consolidated Valley Regional Fire and Rescue in 2005. It was the first true consolidation in Luzerne County.

The City of Williamsport and Old Lycoming Township partnered in a unique paid-volunteer operation. Williamsport posts full-time personnel in the Old Lycoming station, allowing for immediate response to fires. If necessary, Williamsport's full-timers can rush in to help Old Lycoming volunteers, and the latter can and do respond to fires in the city. Brady said other towns may join this partnership.

The report to the state Senate called on towns and their fire companies to meet annually to discuss the status of services. Brady said "more and more local governments and volunteer fire companies are doing it, but we still have a long way to go. Both sides need to understand what the other is up against."

The state also followed through on a recommendation in the 2004 report that provision of emergency services should be the responsibility of the local government. Brady said he is not sure of that law's impact on home-rule communities.

Wilkes-Barre Township, a home-rule municipality, has been going through a downturn in volunteer numbers and with criminal cases involving the town's fire chief. The township has taken a largely hands-off approach to the independent volunteer fire company. Brady said a city-township link up on the Williamsport-Old Lycoming model likely would work.

Brady said consolidations can be extremely beneficial. He cited the consolidation of a borough fire company and three companies in two townships in Adams County into Fairfield Fire and EMS. The four companies were within 1¼ miles of each other, he said, a redundancy that was looked at by the towns and volunteers in a pro-active way.

In Lancaster County, New Holland Borough, Blue Ball and East Earl townships have created Garden Spot Fire and Rescue. It also serves Earl Township.

"I attended the ribbon cutting on Wednesday. The citizens are excited and supportive," Brady said. "The new Garden Spot shoulder patch came down to two final designs and everyone on hand joined in voting on the selection.

"We are getting better on cooperation," he emphasized.

"This is not about closing fire houses. It is about towns and firefighters deciding, 'What model can we use to make our communities safer?'

Everyone has to "look at the big picture," Brady said. "Most of the groups that I deal with do that. They are looking ahead, five years, 10 years or more."

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.